Several weeks ago, the authorities went to the small town of Bohechío in San Juan de la Maguana province to install a center for isolating persons with coronavirus symptoms or those already diagnosed with Covid-19 that cannot self-isolate at home. The place was said to be ideal. Not far from the town, there were abandoned warehouses used in the construction of a nearby dam. However, the mayor, Luis Emilio de Leon, recently re-elected, with the backing of many residents, refused to allow the set up by the Ministry of Public Health.
The violent reaction by the mayor and the communities such as Yaque and Arroyo Cano (where President Medina was born), impeded the installation. Those who opposed the installation never imagined that their own people would have been the main beneficiaries of the new facility.
As things tend to happen, the coronavirus arrived at Bohechio, and even the mayor had tested positive. Local public health workers said that the first patients were residents who had relocated from Santo Domingo, and so, the town then began to clamor for the installation of the proposed shelter. An estimated 2,900 residents are in home isolation.
When cases of the virus began to appear in San Juan de la Maguana, the local authorities began spraying, distributed masks and blocked the entrances to the town in order to check just who was entering the village.
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Diario Libre
20 April 2020